Issues & Policy Options in Special Education: Guide to Discussion & Response

This guide is designed to facilitate the debating of local policy options in school restructuring which have implications for the education of students with disabilities and other learners with special needs. The guide summarizes special education issues and policy options described more fully in preceding booklets and then asks the reader to specify option preferences. The guide is designed to facilitate discussions regarding the future of special education and to assist in efforts to establish policies that will guide schools in providing quality education to all students. The guide is divided into three numbered response sections. The first of these calls for developing a statement of beliefs about the education of students with disabilities as well as all students. The second section presents five issues presented as action statements, each accompanied by one or more policy options. The issues include: (1) develop a clear vision and mission for education that includes all students; (2) establish a system of accountability; (3) create an organization that supports the mission of restructuring; (4) change what schools teach and how they teach it; and (5) create supports for staff development and staff renewal. Response section 3 concerns five more issues, as follows: (1) stakeholder responsibility; (2) integrated community services for students with disabilities and families: (3) educational technology; (4) teacher preparation and certification; and (5) funding. A form that readers may use to describe other issues they would like to have addressed, a respondent information sheet, and a checklist for indicating belief statement and policy option preferences conclude the document. (JDD)